I've been meaning to post to my blog for ages, but in the past 10 months have not got around to doing it, until now. After blogging every day for the period that I did, I started to feel like it was becoming a chore. I don't like chores, so I thought I would have a rest from it. I didn't really intend to stop totally for this long, but rather blog quite often rather than every day. That is what I'm going to do now I think.
What have I been doing in the time I've not posted. Quite a lot, all the usual things really. In Januray I was over in Las Vegas for CES, AEE, the AVN Awards and a few other things which was great fun. Coming up in April I'm off to Austria for Snowbombing 2006 which is going to be good.
There has been a lot happening around the world, which is nothing out of the normal though, but it seems there have been some interesting things going on, which will spark some good discussions, finding out the thoughts and opinions of various people. I had an idea of posting about a wider range of topics to see what other people think, so look out for some posts and have your say. Just don't count on when I might start doing that, it could be another year, but I hope not. Hopefully more to come soon!
Ben has not been posting much either, I think he felt the same as I did, combined with other things like being busy, so I'm not the only one.
For some reason at the moment, I have some kind of mind block going on. I'm not sure why, but I know I'd like to loose it. I think it is down to the amount of things I have going on at the moment but I could be wrong. Lack of sleep is probably playing some role and also other things. Spending most of our lives at work just does not appear to be healthy for us or not for me at least. Life is meant for living, I think it's about time things changed so we get chance to actually live!
Today is Homelands, something I was meant to be going to but this year I'm not going it now seems. I'd still go but it's not as much fun going by yourself and the people I was meant to be going with have now decided they can't make it. That is really annoying at the best of time, especially when it is a rubbish excuse. Some people are starting to get a reputation for being unreliable!
I've been the past 3 years so I don't mind taking a break from that festival but it's still annoying when I wanted to and was planning to go! There is still a lot more to come this summer, Homelands is just the start, so it's not all bad, providing that people don't continue to make up excuses. I'll be going out anyway, just around London instead!
I don't have the keys for the box to gain access to any mail that has been sent, which is a bit of a problem. I have managed to get some of the mail that was in there out but there is still some inside. I have ordered some replacement keys but they have not come yet or they have already been posted in the box which means I'd have to order another one.
I have let the appropriate people know, so hopefully when the keys come they won't be posted but rather left at the management office as I have requested. Sometimes it is the most simple of things that can cause the most problems!
It is actually quicker for me to get to work now, after moving to the new place. It'll be a lot shorter soon as I have sorted the car out so travel time to work will soon not really be an issue!
I've been busy with things so have not had much time to be spending online as I normally would so I've got some catching up that needs to be done, which will be attended to soon!
Work on the business projects is moving along and at the moment I'm finding that there are not enough hours in the day to fit everything in. I'll be sorting out a car shortly so I'll be spending less time on travel, which is good and about time. That will give me some time back or a night especially, to relax and work on business related tasks.
It shouldn't be much longer before some of the projects will be revealed and launched, so watch this space.
I've moed all of my things that I had with me down here over to the new place, it was quite a mission without using a car, I should have got someone to come down and help with a car to put everything in, but I managed.
At some point I'll bring some more of my things down from home, once I've sorted out what I want to bring so I have it available all of the time and what can stay up at home. I'm feeling better already now it's all sorted.
It's always good to read the small print when you are going to sign a contract for a new service. You may remember the problems that the Smile bank gives you if you don't pay in a certain amount of money per month. They asked me if there is anything they could do to ensure I do not close my account and I stated that having to pay in a certain amount of money is something that seems to only be enforced by Smile and shoiuld be changed.
Of course if I had of read the conditions I would have known about that requirement and probably would have not bothered opening an account. That kind of requirement is just something I have not heard of before but there is a first time for everything.
This week is going to be a lot less busy at work for me, so I might get chance to catch up on things. I'm just looking forward to making the move as I have been saying quite a lot recently. I've got a load of reading to do as I've got behind with things.
I went on the MTV Total Request Live show last night, which is live on MTV coming direct from the studio at Leicester Square. Up until they were announced, I was not sure who the two guests for the show were going to be, but it turned out to be David Hasslehoff and Daryl Hannah. I grew up watching Nightrider and also Baywatch so it was good to be up close to him!
Daryl Hannah, the actress was also on the show. She is taking part in the Gumball 3000 rally, which starts in London later today. The private party was last night and I managed to gain entry, which was great because I got to see Jamiroquai again for the second time in a week and both times for free. Last night was much better though as it was a club environment and everyone was having a good time.
The show last week, not many people were even dancing, but it was not bad. Considering the amount of people outside, we did well to get in as it was an event for people taking part in the rally this year and invited guests, we enjoyed walking down the red carpet and the free drinks from the bar too which was a nice addition to all of the wine we'd had earlier in the day. There were hundreds of people outside, loads inside and also quite a lot of known faces!
After the party, we headed to the Hagen Daas store and had some nice deserts as well as a nice coffee. Not bad for 2am and the place has music and nice seats, very nice!
After that, we headed back for some sleep and I've not long been awake and now going to get ready and head back to check out all of the cars that are on show and taking part in Gumball 3000 2005.
The builders came last weekend on the Saturday to do some work, yet I was not informed so they went away because there was someone in the room. They are saying they want payment when they didn't do any work, which is funny! What is even more funny is that this crazy female I've been talking about recently, is going to pay them and seems to think it is my fault.
Sorry, but her lack of communication is the problem. It's my fault because they came before on a Saturday, that I should have assumed they would be coming. Sorry, for one I don't assume too often, it's not good practice. Also, it's not my job to inform her what I am doing, it is her job to inform us what is happening when people need access to the rooms we are staying in.
She told the other guy who stays at the house, yet forgot to tell me. It's not the first time this has happened. I've had enough with it, she really needs to get a grip. If she treats everyone who moves in the way she has treated us, people certainly won't be staying here long. We need her less than she needs us, obviously she hasn't got the grasp of that fact yet.
It's not long until I move now and once that is sorted and I get proper Internet access I'll actually be able to browse the Internet again at night, without getting annoyed at how slow it is. If the person here had kept their promises and sorted it here, it would not be a problem but she is full of rubbish. Putting up silly notes to tell us not to use leave the taps running because she is over her estimated water bill. Unless they know how many people are living here, which I doubt, they can't even estimate properly.
She also turns the heating off, which means the house is cold most of the time. Considering we pay rent, we don't have to put up with things like that, hence one of the reasons I have had enough and am geting out of here!
She also is under the impression that the tap in sink can let out 5 litres of water a second, what planet is she living on? That is two and a half normal size bottles of soft drink every second which is impossible considering the size of the pipes.
The contract for the new apartment has been signed, in part but the rest of it will be sorted tomorrow. There are a few bits that need to be sorted out, so they will be done tomorrow.
Not long to go now, I really can't wait to move. I've had three months of being in an awkward accomodation situation, to say the least. I've learned from it so it's not all that bad, but I certainly won't be rushing to live the experience again!
I'm busy with loads of things at the moment and have not had time to catch up with certain things. The good news is that everything is nearly sorted with the new place, just got to get a few things changed with the contract and then sign. Once that is done, we can get the keys, the date is set for the 21st of May.
I can't wait. It will mean I can sort out some proper Internet access down here and also have a place that is actually warm. The place I am staying at now is cold most of the time as the female owner who also lives there, is a bit a character and doesn't like spending any money, obviously.
Well, I've been up for fourty hours, so I think it is time for bed. You really do appreciate being able to sleep when you are tired and it is a lot easier to sleep, I could probably sleep with my head right next to a speaker banging out some quality tunes, right now!
I'm off to see Jamiroquai live tomorrow, which should be good and tonight I'm going to see Steve Lawler play some quality tunes for three hours as well as Hybrid and more. I've been up since 7am and no doubt it is going to be a late one tonight. I've also decided to go and do some work tomorrow, so I'll probably be going back, having a shower and then going straight back out. Afterwards I'll be going to see Jamiroquai then go back home after that. I'm used to being awake for ages but it's nice to aviod it when possible!
I'm just waiting to hear back about the property that I'm hopefully going to be moving to, but it's looking likely that within the next two weeks the date of being able to move in will arrive.
Then I can sort out a decent Internet connection, instead of being forced to use GPRS as I have to at the moment, when I'm not at work or back at my real home. Fingers crossed, but it's all looking good!
I've been to view a number of other properties today and have put in an offer on one of them, to rent the place out. It's in the hands of the owner, but hopefully it'll be accepted and things can move forward. I'll hope so, as I really need to get out of the current place I stay at during the week, for various reasons.
I think one lesson I have learnt is not to live at a property where you are renting a room if the owner is living there too, unless they are yours freiends or family. If not, it can cause more problems than good, depending on what they are like. In my current case, things just get worse by the day!
I know the summer is coming when the bank holidays start appearing. There are quite a few bunched together over the next few months and the first one is today. The rest are a little later when the weather is hopefully better and the long weekends can be used to their full advantage.
It's also about time to start planning some holidays for this year, but I'll need a decent calendar to help with that issue!
I've got a lot of things going on at the moment, so have had less time to do things normally do have time for. I've been looking for a decent web based calendar to use, but the ones I have seen have not really had any exceptional functionality to make me want to use them but I'll have to test a few out some more and then start using one, it'll allow me to plan time a lot better!
After having a nice Italian lunch yesterday before viewing some properties around London, I went out on the night and after drinking quite a lot of cocktails I decided it would be better if I was sick rather than feeling sick for longer than required. It was a waste of the nice lunch that I had, but not to worry. I've been back home for a while now and I'm not feeling too bad!
I was out on Thursday night in London, went to an Arabic restaurant that I have been to before and then after went to some bars but took it slightly easier than I did last night.
It's all good fun!
I manged to check out a few properties earlier, but a lot will have to wait until next week as some of them are not available for viewing at the weekend. I've got quite a list to check out, so something should be located shortly that is ideal. For now at least, it's time to go out!
Spread the love, not bugs. I've got a cold at the moment, I'm not feeling that good but as always just get on with it. Hopefully it'll not last too long, as it's really annoying being all blocked up one minute and then not the next. It should start getting warm soon, so it's not all bad. When people are ill though, most don't feel like doing anything. I don't blame them!
Of course renting property is dead money and I want to do it for as short a time as possible. I'm looking at moveing location, so that I'm in a new property that is closer to central London, which means it's a lot easier to go out all night and get back both during the week and at weekends.
Property prices are usually on the increase and I'll hopefully be able to invest in buying somewhere at some point, but for various reasons at the moment I'll be renting. The selection of properties available is vast but they all have one thing in common and that is the prices!
When people want to be as central as possible and living in a nice property people will be prepared to pay more but even looking at what is available, I've found that in London most of the properties, even the rubbish ones, have high rental charges. Most people have known it for a long time, but in most places property is worth investing in if you have the available funds.
I'm heading to HIN UK later today, to check out some nice modified cars and meet up with some nice models. It should be a good event, although smaller in comparison to some of the other modified car shows. It is all inside too so the weather will not cause any problems.
I've been trying to order some food to be delivered. All of the leaflets that I have here must be out of date because most of the ones I have tried don't answer. One place I called I could not understand what the person was saying and another one who answered stated they they are closed on a Sunday and don't do delivery.
Even though I wanted some food, I quickly decided to save the cash and not bother. I then proceeded to ponder over the reason why I didn't bother stopping off at the shops on the way back from work to pick some things up.
It's time to get some supplies in, something which I am used to having back back up at home.
I've been in bed all day, makes a change lately but I needed it after getting back this morning after 8am. It's all good fun. I'm still waiting on the ADSL pipe to be activated, I'll have to chase that up as it's starting to get really frustrating with the amount of time it takes to browse and download anything.
I'll be able to catch up on a load of stuff then, as at the moment it's just not worth even trying to browse too much!
After the bad luck on Thursday night, there were problems with the plan of events last night out in London too. After changing plans to head to another club for the night or for a while before heading to Turnmills, I wish I had not bothered. It was the Sunday Sport party at 10 Room that I was planned to visit, but after being told it was too full even though we were down on the list, combined with the fact they wanted to also charge people to get in now, I didn't bother going in.
I still could have made it to the Gallery night at Turnmills but instead I had some drinks at some other places and then went back to the house. Some people I knew that actually made it inside, said it was rubbish anyway so I didn't miss out on anything. I'm just annoyed becuase I missed out on a good night at Turnmills. I could have still gone but after the waiting around earlier at 10 Room, I was now freezing and could not be bothered trying to get over to Turnmills, especially since it was late and I didn't know if I would be able to get in as it was near 3am!
I'm not doing anything tonight, I've come back to visit the family. I'll certainly be making up for all the trouble this weekend, next weekend!
I went out in London last night, looking forward to attending a good night at The Big Chill Bar, only to find that it was invite only. Now if only I had of checked, I would have known that. I'll learn from it, normally I ould check but since it's a bar I didn't think it would be a problem. It was a good night anyway, we went to some other bars, but it was still annoying that we had been looking forward to it and had made the effort only to be unable to get in.
I'm back home again now, I came back last night after taking a slight diversion to a local pub and drinking a few drinks. Tonight I'll be off to Godskitchen for the Bedrock event to see John Digweed play some quality tunes. No doubt I'll be in bed most of tomorrow and then head back to London. It'll be a quick weekend or seem like it anyway.
I don't know about for you, but today is a great day for me because I got paid. It's unusual to be paid at this time during the month, but that is how it works and I don't mind at all!
Roll on the same time next month.
The keys have arrived, so I'll be able to sleep in a bed once again tonight which I shall be looking forward to. I'm glad too as I'm going out in London tonight so although it would not be too much of an issue as I have everything I need in my bag that is not locked in the room, it would make things slightly harder.
But since I don't have to cross that bridge, I won't consider what the implications of not receiving the key would have been. I'm off to central London shortly, to drink some nice drinks.
I have forgotten to bring my keys back down to London with me which means I can't get in my room. It's lucky that I have a load of stuff with me in my bag, else I'd be in trouble! Also not having a bed last night and tonight will not be nice, but I should get my keys tomorrow morning. I'm never going to forget them again, it causes too much trouble!
It's Sunday again, I really don't know where this weekend has gone. I'll be heading off back down to London shortly, as I'm going earlier this week it should not take as long. On the train I'll be reading some of one of the books I recently purchased from Amazon, I'll post some details of those up later.
The one I am taking with me right now, relates to Solaris 9 which should help with learning more for the Solaris 9 certification exams. Taking them all down by train will make my bag too heavy, so I'll take some more of them with me next weekm when I come back.
I hate being let down, so I try not to do it to other people too often. I was meant to be going out tonight but now because of someone else and them having my invite, I can't go. Not to worry, but it's annoying when you're looking forward to doing something and then someone changes their mind or something comes up, that really is something that could be avoided.
Looks like I'll be more awake at work tomorrow than I thought I would be, since I'll be getting to bed earlier than was planned!
BT have activated the phone line down here which means that the ADSL can now be ordered, so that is good news. I've ordered an optical mouse for use with my laptop, I've gone some I could use but with the wireless active as well, sometimes the mouse can be affected so I've ordered a new wired one. I find it much easier using a mouse rather than a pad on a laptop. Once the Internet pipe is active and I get the mouse it'll mean I can do some proper browsing at night.
I've got loads of things I need to do and loads of news to catch up on and blog about but it's either do it during the day at the moment or leave it until the mouse and Internet are sorted. I can do some of it during the day but it's easier when people are not around and bothering me, which is mostly during leisure time.
I'll have to get motivated and work on things during the day since I've got a lot of free time at the moment at work, for various reasons. I have been doing some web based courses, but they get a bit boring after a while, so having breaks is good. It's only possible to take in so much information at a time without forgetting a lot of it.
I've got access to over 4,000 books as well, on every I.T based topic, so I'll be reading a lot and printing some off as well probably to read away from a computer. Having access to that many books is great, especially since they are all provided to us free of charge due to being paid for by the company. It's good when companies invest in the learning and education of their staff, it is beneficial to the staff and the company.
I need to make sure I leave earlier when going back down to London, as the later I leave it the longer it takes due to less trains running at later times, once I get down to London. It's going to be so much easier once I sort a car, I'm going to make that a priority in the next month or so. It'll be added expense initally, but it'll save me a lot of time, money and effort in the long run.
It'll mean I get more time to spend doing things I want to be doing, rather than wasting a lot of time on travel. Although, I'm spending less money and time on travel now, than I was recently so it's mostly good!
I'm back home up north, in comparison to London anyway. I've got some things to do this weekend, but no doubt I won't get them all done. Once the Internet pipe is activated in the house and I have a proper connection, I'll be able to catch up on a load of things. I've got time at work, but it's easier in your own totally free time.
It's quite quiet at work here at the moment so I've not actually done that much since I started. Since there is so much work in the queue, it's strange that there are weeks of quiet time, but this is due to a number of factors, like customer cancellations and such. I've spent the week doing reading and I've ordered a number of books to read, some certification based and some PHP / MySQL.
More on that later though. I'm off back home this weekend, so might get some things done that I need to do. Then again, probably not!
I'm back to working normal hours now, but I'm finding that I am more tired than I was working later. Maybe it is because I've been sleeping a bit more. It's probably because I'm getting used to the new hours and having to get up earlier again, which is something I've not really done for over a year!
Apart from that, everything is good.
I've never had a bad thing to say about Ebuyer, until now. As you may know I have been trying to order a laptop from Ebuyer for over a week now and have had nothing but problems. Firstly, my card kept being declined so I tried another one and had the same problem. I contacted my bank who said there is no issue, not declined replies have been sent out at all which would indicate no attempt to charge the card was ever made.
I thought that it might be a problem with the Ebuyer system since the payments are taken automatically, that is unless they have someone sitting there processing orders all day and night. Once I started having problems on other sites, I thought it might be a problem with a core banking system, especially since a few other people I know were having problems.
The next step was to open a ticket with Ebuyer, to request that they take payment manually as I required the laptop as quickly as possible. I opened the ticket early on Wednesday 26th January and the ticket was not even looked at until I got a reply on the morning of Wednesday 2nd February. That is not acceptable. Why did it take this long to reply?
Ebuyer states that the delay is due to a queue that built up over the Christmas period. There is a simple solution to that problem, ensure some staff that would like to work, are working. The other problem is there there is no telephone support number in operation now, so everyone is having to use the ticket system regardless of query or issue.
I could of course call one of the numbers that have been published in various places, but at the moment I don't have an open order because it has been cancelled. I'll have to wait until tomorrow now to place a new order. I am really not happen about the amount of time I have had to wait for a reply to get a simple issue sorted out. I was told that my order would be processed manually but instead it has been cancelled. Not only is there a lack of communication, the information that is provided is misleading.
Ebuyer need to sort a few things out, else they will start loosing customers who until recently in some cases, have had no problems at all with the service provided by Ebuyer.
I could of course take my money to another supplier, but Ebuyer provide some of the best prices so I will attempt to order again tomorrow and see how it goes. I'd do it now but I forgot my cards today so will have to wait. I'll post an update tomorrow, when I know if the payment goes through or not.
I'm down in London now and after a mad morning of travel, I finally made it to work. It has been a rather chilled first day, as will the next few weeks as I learn how things are managed and such. I did not get much sleep last night as I was wide awake, but aI'm really tired now so will be getting an early night and catching up on some sleep.
I'll be off to London at some point on Tuesday, probably quite late in the day, but ready to start my new job on Wednesday. I have quite a small list of things that I shall be taking down with me, just the essential things really.
Due to the problems I have been having buying things online, I have not yet managed to get my laptop ordered but hopefully I'll be able to sort it out shortly, as I'll need it!
I've had a number of online payments that have been declined. I contacted my bank and they said nothing is wrong but it seems that I'm not the only one having trouble. I was trying to order a laptop from Ebuyer but have not yet been able to. At first I thought it was something to do with Ebuyer, but other sites have been affected.
There must have been some major system outage affecting core payment systems, a few other people I know have also been having trouble, mine started earlier this week. Hopefully the problems will be sorted soon, if not already. I'll have a look around and see if I can find any information about what has been happening.
I've sorted accomodation out, I'm going down to check it out on Saturday. I'll be sharing with the girl that is buying the house and two others. She has decided to rent out the other 3 rooms, it looks like it will be me and another guy and the two girls. More on that later. It's a new house and seems quite big, so should be fine.
As for the Solaris exam, I failed. Not very good, but it was my own fault for doing no revision, some of the questions I had no idea about, I don't remember covering certain sections on the courses I did at the end of 2003 plus I was tired which didn't help. I've got another voucher, so will do some revision before taking it again.
Tomorrow I've got the Solaris System Administrator part 1 exam. It should not be too much of a problem for me given the good amount of experience I've gained through my own learning and work related tasks, a few people I know from work have recently passed it and one of them had not had any prior Unix experience before he started his current position and has only been in that position for just over a year.
I've not done any revision though, but I'll do some reading in the morning so I can get refreshed on a few things that I know are in the exam. Providing I pass that, I'll book part 2 and that will be the end of that. Until I do the Solaris 10 upgrade.
I finally got around to passing my driving test last week, but forgot to post about it to tell everyone the good news, until now. It was my second attempt and out of the allowance of 15 minor mistakes I made 7, so not bad at all considering the average number of test attempts for people to pass in this country is usually 3 or 4.
It's something I should have done years ago, but never got around to it. I'm glad that it is out of the way, it'll make getting around a lot easier. Now I've just got to sort a car out and then I can learn how to really drive!
It's Friday, the start of the weekend. Although, I've had one long weekend for a while as I've been off work waiting to start my new job. I had planned on doing a number of things today but never had enough time and motivation.
I'm off out now and will be back at some point tomorrow, so can continue then.
Have a good one!
Having all this free time at the moment, I was hoping to catch up on a lot of things and complete some tasks that I've got on my list of things that need to be worked on.
I've got some things completed but there is a lot that needs to be done. I'm going to buy a nice laptop shortly, which will come in use when I am down in London. I've got a few things to sort out still such as accomodation. It looks like it is going to be a last minute thing, but we'll see.
Having all this free time actually gets boring when you are not doing that much, I should have gone away abroad!
With starting my new job based in London next month, I've got a number of things to sort out. Knowing me, I'll leave a lot of it until the last minute. I'm not sure what I am doing with regards to accomodation just yet but I'll probably end up renting a room or sharing but if I can find a decent place near to the office that is a decent monthly price then I'll probably do that instead as I would rather have my own place over sharing with people I don't know.
In about six months I will probably be looking to buy a place with one of my friends. With the joint buying power of both of us we can get something better, maybe around the London area or maybe a bit further out. We will both be working in London so it makes sense because we'll be investing money every month rather than throwing it away on renting. In the long run, the property will obviously be an investment and if the time came to sell it then we'd get our money back plus profit.
I'll see what happens, but at least doing it this way I won't be rushing and will know by that point if I want to stay in the new position. I'm not sure if I will state the name of this new company at the moment, maybe not at all. I'll say for now, it's another big American company. After the trouble some people have had with their employers knowing about and reading their blogs, maybe this is a good opportunity for me to start clean in that area, even though I've not had any trouble there is always the potential, especially when joining a new employer.
When you know people that work at the same company as you are reading your blog, you might not have the freedom to talk about certain things that are work related or not. It could be even worse if they know it is yours but you don't know they know. If they read it but don't know it is yours then it is alright to exercise your freedom of thought and speech more easily, which is why I have the opportunity of doing so now, with the company change coming up.
In light of being able to speak about anything more freely by keeping some information such as the company name private, I think I'll not disclose that information at the moment. It could definately be the better option due to some of my thoughts and opinions that I may decide to share with you, regarding various things employers might not like their staff discussing, work related and various other subjects.
I've recently received some cards through from my share broker,
TD Waterhouse, to allow me to gain access to funds in my account as well as pay for things using them as well if I wish. Upon receiving them, I've noticed that the expiry date is 04/05 on both cards. There must be a mistake, a card that is only valid for four months?
Something has obviously gone wrong as I can't see them sending me new cards all the time since there is no need. I'm going to call them on Monday and see what they say. There is a first time for everything I know, but I've not heard of anyone experiencing this card expiry issue before.
It's not like banks have a standard set period that all customer cards are valid for so that they all cycle at the same time. Maybe TD Waterhouse do use that method, but I doubt it as it's better to spread the new card creation load over time rather than have them all expire at the same time.
Well after having a long night last night and not arriving home until 8.30am I went straight to bed as it had been a good night and I needed to sleep of the current state of mind that I was in.
I've not long been up and I'm still feeling tired so will probably try and get some more sleep in a while.
Now it's 2005 I might get around to doing things that I've been putting off. I finally got MT upgraded so that is one thing off the list. More to come!
As for resolutions for 2005, I don't have any!
It's what we know as Boxing Day today, but there is not much boxing taking place that I know of. The reports of the massive earthquake has caused a lot of deaths, there is never a good time for a natural disaster to take place but at Christmas and the holiday period it's even worse.
It makes me and I'm sure a lot of other people glad that we live in places where this kind of thing does not happen. There is no more snow here and I didn't manage to grab any pictures before it melted, which was not very long. Hopefully there will be some early next year like there was earlier this year.
I hope you all get what you want. That is of course if Santa manages to complete his mission this year and visit each and every home. It was nice when I was younger thinking about all of that, but when you get to a certain age and know it is made up, the fun part is gone and never to return.
At least there will still be plenty of mince pies and other food to consume and plenty of drinks to drink!
Merry Christmas
Well after having two interviews on Monday, I've found out that I have been offered one of the jobs already. I'm just waiting for the paperwork to come through. I have not found out about the other one yet. I think I'll probably take the one I've already been offered for a number of reasons but we'll see.
I'll explain more when the documents come through which could be a few days since it is nearly Christmas and such. It looks like I'll now be spending most of my time in and around London.
With having to go down south to London earlier today, I went by train as I usually would. I have a young persons discount rail card, which I normally carry but this time forgot to take. I had booked my tickets in advance and usually I don't even get asked for my pass by the train staff but this time, a certain member of staff who also happened to be the train manager wanted to see it.
When I told him I did not have it, he said that I would have to buy another ticket, although this could be refunded later I simply did not have the available funds on me to pay and I could not use my card because there was not enough available credit. Regardless of the fact you should carry it, they should be able to check up to see if you have got one, maybe not on the train but later on then they could send out an invoice afterwards. I provided my details, but thinking about it now I should have not bothered because they don't have to give their full names.
Another lady on the train also stated to this member of staff that not it works both ways with providing details. He did not give me any. If I do get a letter from them, there is no way on this earch I will be paying for another ticket since I had one and if they had a proper system they could have easily checked the appropriate database to confirm that I do have a discount card which means that my discounted ticket was valid.
To top it all off, not only was this member of staff rude an unprofessional, he also took my return ticket as I gave it to him when he requested it thinking I was going to get it back. He would not give it me back. If I had of not been dressed in my suit, I probably would not have hesitating in giving this unprofessional staff member, to point it nicely - What he deserved.
I was not really annoyed anough to take it that far and being on train full of people as well as being smartly dressed I avoided that. I didn't even give him any verbal abuse however he was saying a lot of rubbish to me. He made a call, I thought he was checking my details but he did not while I was there. Apart from having a bad start to the day, the rest of it went well. Thinking about it I should have just given him bogus information since he did not have the decency to provide his full name.
I'm just waiting for the letter to come through now, if it does I really will have some fun. If their system worked, if there was even a proper system in place, what would happen now is nothing. Since they would check the appropriate database and find I was not in the wrong.
I'm sorry, I made the mistake of forgetting my young persons discount card. Yes, that is correct it was my intention to do that and I should be made to buy another ticket because they don't have a real system in place that allows this database to be checked either on the train or later on before sending out letters to people.
They had better not waste the paper and ink, it can demand money, a court date or anything really. The only place it'll be going after my reply is in the bin.
Innocent until proven guilty. Unless forgetting a discount card is a crime. They say that the terms and conditions state that you must have the card to make the ticket valid. Fair enough, I could have got a refund on another ticket later, but how was I meant to do this when I had no viable way of buying the ticket again on the train?
Virgin Trains and the other